EPA Administrator Explains and Defends Proposed Waters of the U.S. Rule

The EPA's recently proposed Waters of the U.S. Rule has drawn fire from many quarters, not the least of which is from farm and agricultural groups. Congressional opponents of the proposal say it is nothing more than a power grab by the EPA to regulate practically every aspect of land use that could present even the slightest possibility of ever impacting water that could one day end up in a navigable river or lake.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy is aggressively pushing the rule against the objections of farmers and ranchers to slow the process down and thoroughly examine its ramifications before it is enacted.

McCarthy has shown no signs of heeding those calls and, if anything, has dug her heels in more defiantly to get the rule enacted quickly. In comments before farm broadcasters Tuesday in Washington, D.C., McCarthy mentioned nothing to us about protests from lawmakers that her agency does not have the power to enact such broad rules. In her talk McCarthy asserted she does have the power and will enact such regulations. 

McCarthy said her agency is working hard to get this rule done and that there would be no harm to farmers and ranch as long as they follow the conservation practices that the USDA and EPA agree on.

The tenor of her comments indicated she will stop at nothing to get these regulations in place as quickly as possible, turning a deaf ear to requests that her agency slow down and reflect upon the impact of the rule. Her comments also reinforced the uneasiness of the rule's opponents who say that the EPA is attempting set itself beyond the reach of the clear statutory language enacted by Congress and interpreted by the courts. 

You can read more of this story as well as listen to my audio report along with comments from McCarthy by clicking here. 

Our Changing Climate - Third National Climate Assessment Released; Vilscack Comments 

The Third National Climate Assessment (NCA) report was released yesterday. The report was written by 240 authors who worked in author teams reflecting their expertise, who also selected additional contributing authors, including several scientists and experts from USDA.

The authors conclude that climate change is already happening across the United States and says many agricultural regions will experience declines in crop and livestock production from increased stress due to weeds, diseases, insect pests, and other climate change induced stresses. Current loss and degradation of critical agricultural soil and water assets due to increasing extremes in precipitation will continue to challenge both rain-fed and irrigated agriculture unless innovative conservation methods are implemented.  (You'll find more of this story and a link to the full report by clicking here.) 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack responded to the report and said, "The National Climate Assessment confirms that climate change is affecting every region of the country and critical sectors of the economy like agriculture...  At USDA, we're working closely with our nation's farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to help them manage the negative impacts of climate change, reduce their energy costs, and grow the bioeconomy to create jobs in rural America."

Click here for more of Tom Vilsack's comments.

Following the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's proposed rule to allow the importation of fresh and frozen beef from 14 states in Brazil and the closing of the comment period on April 22, 2014, NCBA has reviewed the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service's final audit report on an onsite audit conducted on Brazil's meat inspection system. The onsite audit was conducted from February 19 through March 14, 2013 and the report is dated April 16, 2014.

"NCBA is extremely disappointed this final audit report was not released in time for a full review, prior to the comment deadline on the proposed rule," said Bob McCan, NCBA president and Victoria, Texas cattleman. "In early March, NCBA formally requested through a Freedom of Information Act request, all pertinent documents, including a final 2013 FSIS audit report for Brazil. This report was available prior to the comment deadline, but the failure by FSIS to provide it, shows a complete lack of preparation of the documents the U.S. cattle industry would need in order to make informed and meaningful comments."  

"Cattlemen and women support free and open trade, based on sound science," said McCan. "But that science relies on the ability of actors to uphold certain standards. We are more convinced than ever, after reading this report, that Brazil is not capable of holding its industry to the same standards we hold ourselves to. If Brazil cannot manage their food safety equivalency standards, how can we trust that they have the safeguards to protect animal health? Therefore, we continue to urge APHIS to withdraw this proposed rule." 

Reallocating Agricultural Resources: Derrell Peel Summarizes the 2012 Ag Census 2012--Part 1

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow-Calf newsletter:

The 2012 Census of Agriculture was released May 2 by USDA. The five-year Census of Agriculture is not nearly as useful or important for the on-going operation and decision-making in agricultural industries as is the variety of daily, weekly, monthly and annual data provided by USDA agencies such as the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS); the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS); the Economic Research Service (ERS) and many other contributing agencies. However, the Census of Agriculture does provide a long-term view of the structure of agricultural industries. The most recent census is particularly interesting and a comparison of the 2007 and 2012 census illustrates the beginnings of a unique and fundamental shift in U.S. agriculture that is likely to continue for several more years.

The census shows that there was 914.5 million acres of land in farms in 2012, down 0.8 percent from the 2007 total land in farms. This 914.5 million acres is divided into 389.7 million acres of cropland; 77.0 million acres of woodland; 415.3 million acres of permanent pasture/range; and 32.5 million acres of farmsteads, roads, ponds, etc. Cropland and permanent pasture/range make up 88 percent of the total land in farms. Total cropland includes harvested cropland of 315 million acres, or 80.8 percent of total cropland. The remainder was cropland pastured or land that was idled, including a roughly 4 million acre increase in land with crop failure or was abandoned (likely due to the 2012 drought).

You can read more of Derrell Peel's analysis by clicking here. 

Mexico Removes Import Restrictions on U.S. Beef

The Mexican government is in the process of making regulatory changes that allow for import of U.S. beef and beef products derived from cattle of any age. This important development lifts the 30-month cattle age limit for U.S. beef and effectively removes the last of Mexico's BSE-related restrictions.

"This is an issue that USMEF has been working on for a number of years, and resolving it has been a lengthy process," said Chad Russell, U.S. Meat Export Federation regional director for Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic, contractor to the beef checkoff. "We received excellent support on this issue from FAS officials at the U.S. embassy in Mexico, who always made sure that it was front-and-center whenever U.S.-Mexico trade issues were being discussed at high levels. Though it took some time, these efforts have now paid off."

You can read the rest of this story by clicking here. 

Former Ag Secretary Glickman Says Future of Agriculture Looks Bright

We have known former Ag Secretary and former Kansas Congressman Dan Glickman for almost my entire farm broadcaster career.  As I started in Wichita as a green "wet behind the ears" farm broadcaster at KFH radio in Wichita, he was running for and became the brand new Congressman from Wichita. That was in the mid 1970s.

He spoke with with me in Washington this week during our Washington Watch activities and reminded me that he came to the work that defined his service on Capitol Hill in a roundabout way.   

"Actually the heart of my Congressional career was agriculture. I didn't start out planning it that way because I was from Wichita and my dad wasn't in farming or agriculture, but it became the most important subject I dealt with. I was able to continue it through the secretary's job and I'm still involved in a global food security initiative with the Gates Foundation with AGree which is a multi-foundational initiative to promote food and agriculture and I speak out on a lot of food and agriculture issues."

He now co-chairs a group called AGree. The group seeks to identify challenges confronting the world's food and agricultural systems and form a consensus on how best to meet those challenges.

He says AGree is a place to bring all types of agriculture interests together from the largest corporations to the smallest farmers to try and find some common ground and purpose to agriculture. Some of the issues they are currently tackling include how to get more funds allocated for research, how to get more young people interested in farming and how to build more sustainable communities. He says AGree tries to stay away from more controversial issues and did not get involved in the farm bill debate.

Click here to listen to my interview with Glickman or to read more of this story.  

This N That- Big Iron and Gina Channels Nancy

Big Iron is auctioning off 719 agricultural, construction and transportation items today.  Sales begin closing at 10 a.m. and you'll find them all by clicking here.  Every item contains a thorough description and numerous photographs showing you its exact condition.

New to the Big Iron way of selling used equipment?  You can contact District Manager Mike Wolfe and he'll walk you through the buying and selling process.  You can reach him at (580) 320-2718 or via email- click here to drop Mike an email.

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I would encourage you to listen to our audio report above in our Top Story of the morning as we give you a lot of the comments that EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy offered to farm broadcasters yesterday here in Washington.  By the way- she has shied away from doing interviews or having any interaction with the farm media- so just having her show up and sit down for about 45 minutes was remarkable.

You may recall the famous remarks of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she helped the President get Obamacare across the finish line- "You'll have to pass the law in order to find out what is in the law."  Well, I heard a similar comment by McCarhy yesterday about the "science" behind the Waters of the US proposed rule.  She told broadcasters that the rule is based on science, but "The Scientific Review has been done internally" which means it is hidden behind the Wizard's curtain- and is still being massaged.  She did talk about third party peer review- but when you are in charge like Gina is in charge- you get to pick who the Third Party is .  She has. Here comments on the "science" can be heard in our report that is normally heard in our app- Click here for the farm news part of that morning report which includes her tap dance on the science has been done- don't worry your pretty head about it.   

Earlier in her comments with Farm Broadcasters- she spoke of things being "complicated" and whenever I hear that from an appointed official or from a bureaucrat- I actually hear "don't worry sweetie- we are smarter than you- you simply don't have the ability to understand it so we will take care of EVERYTHING- trust us."

One thing that I have heard multiple times from groups that oppose the Waters of the US rule is the hope that enough heat can be brought to get EPA to pull the rule.  IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.  This is Gina's baby- it is not her first rodeo- she will offer a change or two that won't dilute her power within the final rule- and she will have no problem pulling a classic bait and switch on agriculture because the science may change and that will give her the right to pull the football away from Charlie Brown as he gets ready to kick it and hammer farmers and ranchers and any practices she chooses to demand permits for.

The Waters of the US Rule is ONE THING- giving EPA more control.

(End of my morning soapbox time)